Another Chance (Redux!)
by Sessho's Girl
Summary: Rin comes across Naraku's heart, the Infant, and changes come about. There is more to the legend of Midoriko than everyone had known. Now Sesshomaru and the rest have to deal with the new Rin and at last get rid of Naraku.
1. Evil Infant

Author's Note: Yes! I'm back! After having done some mental growing (at least a little) and improving my writing, I have decided to fix up this story so it flows better and all the good stuff. The plot will NOT be the exact same, and it will just be easier to read.

**Pairings: SessxRin, InuxKag, MirxSan, and those who have already read this, you know. If not, I'm not telling.**

**Genre: Romance, Action**

**Rating: T**

**Spoilers/Setting: This is set for the end of the first anime at episode 167, manga chapter 355.**

**Notes: I do not own **_**Inuyasha**_** or any of the characters! That all belongs to Rumiko Takahashi. New readers, you are welcome to attack this story with dragon fire breath if you can find one, honestly. I am completely happy to accept flames.**

* * *

**Chapter 1. Evil Infant**

It was another day in the search for the evil half-demon, Naraku. Sesshomaru and his three companions trudged along behind him as always. Jaken, ever blindly faithful to his cruel and rather sadistic demon lord, shadowed Sesshomaru's long, graceful stride with his short scuttling. Behind them, the young human girl Rin, innocent and more loving than anyone he had ever met, walked in-front of the two-headed demon dragon, Ah-Un, with reins in hand.

The empty, caving urge of hunger bit at little Rin's stomach. It had been morning since she had last eaten, and that was _hours_ ago.

"Lord Sesshomaru, I am getting hungry. May I go find something to eat?" she said.

"Yes," Sesshomaru said simply. No more was necessary for the stoic demon lord to say, as he never bothered with pointless talking or uncertain decisions. Therefore it was rare that many heard his baritone, smooth, generally bored (unless if he was being threatening) voice. As long as one was not around when he _smiled_, then everything was fine.

Rin ran off into the forest in her daily pursuit of some grub, her aching tummy practically yelling at her to fill it. Mushrooms and berries were the usual options if there were no streams for fishing around, though Rin did not care as long as she could eat. The eight-year-old girl ran farther into the forest, scanning left and right at the tree trunks and bushes for any luck until she came to a small clearing.

What she found there was not food, unfortunately, but what looked like a baby swaddled in gray and white clothes. She stepped closer to find the infant had a head of white hair, and that it appeared to be sleeping. Feeling bad that someone would abandon a baby out in the middle of nowhere like this, Rin sat on her knees beside the child.

xXx

Lord Sesshomaru had continued walking even without Rin, though he had slowed his pace a great deal. The child tended to come running back after them anyway, so he had little to worry about.

Then, his nose caught that abhorrent stench of Naraku. Weeks and months pass before he could ever get another chance at finding the bastard or his incarnations. He did not have to pursue the smell, though, because an arrogant-looking boy with ragged white hair appeared before him.

"Sesshomaru, how nice it is to finally meet you," he said.

"Who are you?" Sesshomaru asked, his knuckles cracking as he readied himself to attack.

"I am Hakudoshi."

"What are you doing here?" he questioned, drawing his sword Tokijin. Thankfully, Sesshomaru was able to focus on this fight with Rin out of harm's way. Hakudoshi only gave a small laugh.

"Keeping you busy, of course."

xXx

Rin leaned over the baby to check for a heartbeat, making sure that it had not died yet. Two dull, purple eyes opened up to stare directly into Rin's surprised ones. Tiny arms too fast for their size reached out from under his robes to grab her shoulders, clasping tight.

She tried to scream but could only squirm, her voice lost as a probing coldness seared through her heart and soul.

"I will find the darkness in your heart, then you will obey me. With Sesshomaru's ward under our control, we can easily kill him once and for all." The small demon searched through her heart for darkness, yet found none. "Where is it? The only one that I wasn't able to control was that human girl Kagome and even she had darkness. But this girl has nothing!"

As the baby continued to explore in the depths of her soul, a pulling sensation came over Rin. The vision before her was an expanse of black, and it was cold like a winter night. Her mind moved her through the darkness to a distant scene. As she approached, it became clearer and clearer, revealing to her Lord Sesshomaru, Jaken, Ah-Un, and even all of Kagome and Inuyasha's group laying on the ground with lifeless eyes. In the center of it all, Naraku stood holding a completed Shikon Jewel.

Her consciousness was drawn back out of the infant's heart and saw into her own. Memory after memory passed by, feelings surging through like a flood until there was a void of emptiness, but not as cold and dark as the infant's. In it, she saw a red orb that looked like a liquid mist hovering there, light emitting from the inside. Then some of the wisps of the red mist seeped out slowly, sliding searing hot along her (imaginary?) arm and sinking through her skin. It invaded her body, pulsing through it like blood and making her aware of every inch of herself from the inside out. The red orb's mist felt like a plethora of misery, grief, pain, suffering, destruction, and every other horrible emotion packed into physical form.

It felt like it was Rin's fate.

* * *

Author's After-note: There, hopefully that reads better than the stuff I wrote before. I feel so much better now that I am doing this. Please read and review!


	2. Mysterious Discovery

Author's Note: I'm just going to try powering through these. It would be weird to have the first few chapters revised, and the rest unedited.

Remember, please read and review. Any flaming, including 50K˚C flames from the surface of the Sun (okay, maybe that's a little too much) are welcome!

* * *

**Chapter 2. Mysterious Discovery**

The infant saw the red sphere within the girl, and like her, it burned but it was an oh-so-different burning. Just touching the girl's flesh was scorching him fiercely, as though being purified in a holy inferno.

Meanwhile, Rin was screaming from the emotions that the mist pushed through her body, more terrified than she had ever been before even when dying.

"What do you mean, 'to distract me'? Why?" asked Sesshomaru who was still face-to-face with Hakudoshi.

"Why? It's a little too late to be asking considering you are probably already too late to stop him," said the demon child smugly. Sesshomaru would have loved to kill him then, but he needed those answers.

"Stop him? Are you talking about Naraku?"

Hakudoshi did not answer, preferring to smile contently at the older demon. A scream resonated through the forest, causing his smile to grow further and his eyes crinkled in amusement. The situation clicked for Sesshomaru and he ran off to his ward, Jaken barely managing to grab onto his furry tail.

Back in the clearing, Rin sat on her knees with the baby on her lap after having let go of her shoulders. Its cheeks were burned as evidence of its failed attempt to take control of her. Out of shock and aware of what was happening in the real world again, Rin threw the baby off where another of Naraku's incarnations, Kanna, picked him up wordlessly. She was soon accompanied by Hakudoshi who put up a barrier and flew away smiling.

xXx

A few miles away from where Sesshomaru and the others were, Inuyasha at last caught whiff of Naraku. "I smell Naraku!" he announced to Kagome, squatting down to give a piggyback to the human girl. They were off once she was situated.

"How far away, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, clutching his shoulders tightly.

"Few miles. It'll take about five minutes to get there."

True to his word, Inuyasha arrived at the scene where Sesshomaru watched as Hakudoshi came to shield Kanna and the infant. The three incarnations did not wait any longer to fly off.

"Just my luck!" came a yell from a familiar voice in the forest. "Running into a bunch of mutts and no Naraku!"

Kouga came dashing out from the tree line, pissed off and glaring at the dog demon and half-demon.

"Join the club, ya mangy wolf!" Inuyasha barked back. Their argument was quickly cut-off by Rin's sobbing.

"Now, see here, Rin! Stop bawling like a baby!" Jaken yelled agitatedly at her. The little toad demon was about to get closer to her, maybe knock her on the head with the Staff of Two Heads to snap her out of it, only to completely stop in his tracks as if paralyzed. He was a foot away from her when he glowed the same red that Rin had seen around that misty globe inside of her. There was a pause while he stood there until Jaken was lifted and thrown violently back.

The feeling from before hit her all over again, encouraging even more crying. Several feet away, Jaken lay sizzling on the ground, eyes bulging.

"OW! That hurt so much, Rin! What did you just do!?" Jaken said in his usual irritated, overly excited screech.

Again, Rin did not answer because she was too preoccupied. Ah-Un tried to comfort the girl when he, too, was burnt.

"What's going on?" Kagome asked bewildered.

"Hey, it's alright—" Shippou said, cautiously inching toward Rin. "YOWCH!" he said, flying backward with a zap. Eventually, Inuyasha paced around Rin about the radius where the others stopped. His nose twitched and his ears wiggled, trying to find something off about the human girl. One of his clawed hands slowly testing the waters. Red encompassed it, slightly singing his skin as he kept it there for ten seconds, yet it did not push him back like the others.

However, that was enough to make the feeling worse again. So much so, Rin stood up and threw herself onto Sesshomaru's legs. For a moment, the thought occurred to Sesshomaru that whatever was surrounding Rin would burn him as well yet nothing happened. His and Inuyasha's ears were beginning to ache from the squalling.

"Sesshomaru, I know she listens to you. Why don't you tell her to shut up!?" said an impatient Inuyasha, covering his ears. Sesshomaru cast an evil look at his younger half-demon brother, though he did need Rin to stop crying.

"Rin…stop crying," he ordered softly.

Her sobbing went on as she buried her face into his robes.

"Rin, stop crying," Sesshomaru repeated more firmly. His order went unheeded.

"Idiots!" Kagome yelled at the brothers. "You two can't expect her to stop crying because you tell her to! Can't you see she's terrified!? You have to comfort her, you insensitive creeps!"

Sesshomaru did not really favor having to comply to the human woman's demands, but she did have a point. And if it was for Rin, he could be willing to comfort her. He leaned over and put his single arm on Rin's back in his best attempt at calming her. She was trembling and her heart beat was fast, he noticed. Thankfully, Rin calmed down only enough to cease her crying. Tears still streamed from her eyes, she still sniffled a bit, and her body shook as she tried to hold back her shaking voice.

"Rin, what is wrong?" he asked.

She placed her head on his breastplate, seeking the steadiness of his breathing. "I was trying to find food when I saw the baby on the ground. I went to see if it was still alive and it grabbed me! All of a sudden, it was—was—as if it was creeping inside. But then, I was inside the baby and everyone there was dead and Naraku was there with a purpley-pink round stone. Then I was inside myself, and it was looking for something. It just came across something else—"

Rin's grip tightened, her shaking became worse, and her breathing was shallow.

"Came across what, Rin?" Sesshomaru asked.

"It—it—" she took a deep breath. "I don't know, Lord Sesshomaru. It was red stone, and it looked like it was bleeding this mist. It got into my body and it was just a whole bunch of bad stuff and it hurt. The feeling just comes back each time…" she buried her head into Sesshomaru's fur and pleaded, "Please get it out somehow, Lord Sesshomaru! Please get it out!"

At this point, Sesshomaru stood back up leaving Rin on the ground quietly sobbing. Kirara trotted steadily over to her in her smaller form.

"No, Kirara," Rin said quietly. "Keep away. I might hurt you, too."

The two-tailed kitten ignored her warning and continued even when the red glow appeared. It swirled over her beige fur, then fell off. Kirara bounced easily into Rin's lap.

* * *

Author's After-note: I feel like I've made Rin a bit more like a child as she should be, rather than talking real big like in the first version.


	3. Can and Can't Touch

Author's Note: Third chapter and going!

* * *

**Chapter 3. Can and Can't Touch**

The little girl stared at the small cat on her lap. "I can touch you?" she asked. "You knew you weren't going to get hurt, didn't you?"

Kirara meowed in agreement. She was so satisfied laying on the little girl.

"Kirara," said Sango, "how did you know? Do you know what's going on?"

The cat meowed once more in affirmation. Everyone present listened to the one-sided conversation.

"Of course! The cat just _happens_ to know!" Kouga said sarcastically at the irony.

At that, Kirara leapt off of Rin's lap and transformed. The now-large cat kneeled down in front of Rin low enough for her to climb on.

"The cat is going to take us somewhere?" Sesshomaru said. "Very well."

"I'll ride with her," Sango pitched in. She climbed on behind Rin, holding onto the small girl. Like Sesshomaru, there was no red glow around the demon slayer. Kirara flew off, leaving the others below.

"Kirara, aren't we nearby home?" Sango asked. The cat roared happily at the idea of visiting home again.

They arrived at the village. It was completely empty and the graves of all the murdered villagers were lined up against a wall. Kirara landed in a field of glass within the abandoned village, satisfied that she had done what she needed to.

"Useless," Sesshomaru said in disgust at the relaxing Kirara. So much for that trail of clues.

"I think we need start by seeing who that red power reacts to," Kagome suggested. "Maybe we can find something else out with that."

The others agreed to that plan of action, lining up for Rin. Sesshomaru accompanied Rin as she went down the line of ten people. The first three were Jaken, Ah-Un, and Shippou.

"That makes a demon, dragon, and demon (though not much of one), all of which Rin has burned," said Jaken in his place in line. Then there was Miroku, Sango, and Kouga's two friends, Ginta and Hakkaku. For Miroku and Sango, absolutely nothing happened. However, as she got near the two wolf demons, they leapt back as they felt the burning pain. "Two humans and two wolf demons. Lord Sesshomaru, the count for demons hurt keeps increasing."

The only ones left then were Kouga, Kagome, and Inuyasha.

"Why aren't you in line, Sesshomaru? Just because you are the only one besides Kirara that can touch the girl, you feel too important to stand in line, you bastard?" Inuyasha asked rudely. His remark went ignored.

Rather than fully approaching the wolf demon chief, Rin kept out of range, skirting around him.

"I think I would end up burning you, too," she said shyly, avoiding eye contact with the demon. She walked past Inuyasha, knowing already what happened with him.

"Inuyasha is a half-demon, so maybe the reason for the more mild response was because of his human side, don't you think, Lord Sesshomaru?" Jaken figured for his lord.

"Probably."

After Rin passed by Inuyasha, she did not bother to stop at Kagome, merely continuing on without even glancing in her direction.

"Wait, what about me, Rin-chan?" Kagome asked, confused. The priestess' reincarnation took a few steps forward. That was all it took for Rin to run behind Lord Sesshomaru, clutching onto the cloth of his pant leg again.

"Please, Lord Sesshomaru, don't make me go near Kagome-sama or Kouga-san!" Rin yelled desperately to him as tears began to brim in her eyes.

"But Rin—" Kagome took another couple of steps only to stop when Sesshomaru lifted his hand threateningly.

"If she does not want you near her, then I will make sure to kill you two if you dare come closer," Sesshomaru proclaimed firmly.

Taking the hint, Kagome backed away from the human and demon, putting plenty of space between herself and Sesshomaru's claws.

Later on, the three traveling parties gathered in a circle to go over the situation.

"Obviously she cannot touch demons, except for Kirara and Lord Sesshomaru. She can touch humans, yet refuses to go near Kagome even if she is human, and seems to hold the same reluctance toward Kouga. I wonder why?" said Miroku.

"I don't know. But it felt awful, seeing the look of terror on Rin-chan's face as I got near her," Kagome said sadly.

Elsewhere, Rin sat against an old hut on Sesshomaru's fur as he sat next to her, tucked into his right side.

"Lord Sesshomaru, is it alright if I sing? Singing calms me down."

"If you want."

At his indifferent approval, she began her little melody. She had made it up a while ago when she would always wait for Lord Sesshomaru and Jaken to come back for her and Ah-Un. The little girl wished so hard that, just like in her song, the four of them could travel together forever and ever.

Sesshomaru glanced down at Rin to see her smiling as she cuddled against his comfy tail and drifted to sleep. That was a certainly nice turn of events after her being perpetually upset. All the others stopped talking, observing the child as she slid into a content sleep.


	4. Unknown Powers

Author's Note: Seventeen more chapters to go! *Trying. To. Keep. Going! Pant, pant!*

* * *

**Chapter 4. Unknown Powers**

While the pursuers of Naraku tried to figure out what happened to Rin, the Infant, Hakudoshi, and Kanna all arrived at a cave. There enveloped by shadows stood Naraku in his baboon cloak and he frowned at the sight of the hurt baby.

"What happened?"

"I failed to find the darkness in that little human girl's heart," the Infant said. "But I did stumble across something else…something I think that was trying to hide itself."

"Hide itself?" Naraku said, immediately intrigued at the new mystery. If it was supposed to be hidden, it could be to his benefit to reveal it.

"Yes. There was a red sphere of light, not unlike that of the purple shine of the Shikon Jewel. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but I had first-hand evidence," it winced at the burns on its flesh,"of the girl's spiritual power. Though, like I said, it was red and had a different aura to it. Apparently, by trying to force my way into the girl's heart, I triggered the release of her powers which had been confined deep in her soul. After that, it seeped out and tried to purify me."

"A new type of priestess is in the picture, hm? This is indeed interesting," commented Naraku, now smiling.

"By the looks of it, she may be just as strong as the Priestess Midoriko, whose soul made the Shikon Jewel."

"Really? Well, more is better…"

**xXx**

The little girl curled on his fluffy tail had fallen asleep with her peaceful hymns. The demon lord was only shaken from his quiet daze when Rin's stomach grumbled loudly. Oddly enough, then Sesshomaru began to feel an unpleasant tingling, like hot needles, wherever he was in contact with the child.

_'My immunity seems to have started running out,'_ he thought. _'It would be preferable to put a little distance soon…'_

With his single arm, he picked her small form up and carried it to the others. Her stomach once more reminded him it was hungry.

"Oh! Lord Sesshomaru! Rin must still be hungry!" concluded the kappa that heard the bodily warning. "She was attacked by that infant before she could eat, after all!" Jaken said worriedly.

"I'll take her along with me on Kirara." The demon slayer approached Sesshomaru without fear (to his minor annoyance) to take Rin from his arms. "I'm sure she needs it, and I can get her some food since I know the area really well."

Hearing her name, Kirara jumped up from its relaxed position on the ground. She transformed in a vortex of flames to stand surely in front of Sesshomaru. Rin was transferred onto the cat's back, held securely by Sango as they took off into the sky and out of the village.

They landed on the ground in the surrounding forest, surrounded by towering trees and bushes filled with berries. Sango hopped off of Kirara and sifted through the bushes, differentiating the edible and inedible ones.

Then she heard a low growl further in the forest. Her demon slayer instincts kicked in, drawing Hiraikotsu quickly.

"Kirara, protect Rin. Demons are coming," Sango commanded. In her mind, she found it odd that they would be in that part of the forest to begin with. The timing seemed too coincidental. Her gut was strongly hinting at the peculiar girl she brought with her.

Five demons started the attack by jumping at her, all easily torn to shreds with Hiraikotsu. More just kept coming after that, though.

"Go, Kirara! Get Rin back to the village!" Sango yelled.

As Sango killed one demon after another, Kirara ran away with the sleeping girl on her back. The cat did not want to fly with no one holding her securely to prevent her from falling, so Kirara had to be very careful in handling her passenger.

Finally, contrary to her master's orders, the demon cat arrived at the barrier entrance to the Limestone Cave. The holy grounds of the petrified corpse of Kirara's past master, Priestess Midoriko, called to the loyal companion.

Rin opened her eyes, though it was in an unseeing trance for they were dull and lifeless, open only for convention. She climbed off of Kirara and strolled mindlessly into the mouth of the Limestone Cave.


	5. The Limestone Cave Calls

Author's Note: So I have noticed that most people are just going from AO3 where I am currently posting to FFN where the entire story and sequel is already posted.

THERE WILL BE MAJOR STORY CHANGES!

I have decided to incorporate far more of the original series into this, meaning it will be EXTREMELY different from the first version. When I went back and thought about the plot development, I realized that I made next to no sense and gave no reason as to why certain things were happening. It will also provide better pacing for plot and character development.

Oh well, I will be replacing the old story with the new one anyway, and then it will all be fixed.

* * *

**Chapter 5. The Limestone Cave Calls**

Although Kirara had been pulled to the cave by an old, familiar power, she did not feel completely comfortable with leaving the human girl alone. As she moved to follow her, a voice resonated in the cat's mind.

_'Let her go, Kirara. She needs to go alone. Don't worry, Rin won't be gone for long.'_

The cat's doubts settled with the voice's reassurance. That strong yet gentle intonation could belong to no other than Kirara's old master, Midoriko. Her suspicions of Rin were confirmed, allowing her to recall that she had left her current master back in the forest with aggressive demons. Knowing Rin would be fine, she then leapt off to hunt down and protect Sango.

There was the young woman clad in black and pink, Hiraikotsu spinning back down to her as it crunched through several flying demons. Sango caught sight of her companion and when she was close enough to notice the lack of a rider, she became panicked.

"Where's Rin, Kirara!?"

Kirara merely growled softly in response.

**xXx**

Her bare feet pattered slowly against the cold and wet rock. Traces of lumps and jutting, broken down structures filled the cavern, many barely recognizable as skeletons of demons anymore. Most notably, though, was the statue of a woman with long, smooth hair in armor in the midst of being swallowed by a dragon-like creature. A clear round hole penetrated through the woman's chest.

Rin was still in the last stages of the trance, as though waking from a deep dream, when she felt her inside stirring. There was a sense of joy almost in being near the body turned to stone. She was a bit more whole than she had been before. In the faintest corners of conscious mind, Rin noted that there was some sort of smooth bands brushing against her skin and cradling her body. Whatever it was, the substance had her encased in minutes and she, too, was trapped back in a sleep void of everything. The newly formed cocoon mounted itself on the cold, curved cave walls, assimilating with the stone as much as possible.

Within the cocoon, the little girl began changing steadily.

**xXx**

Sango's only thought was to hurry back to village as quickly as possible where Inuyasha, Sesshomaru, and the others were.

Sesshomaru saw Kirara land and noticed Rin was not there.

"Where's Rin?" he demanded, the air about him shifting in accordance with his anger.

"I don't know," Sango responded breathlessly. "We were attacked by demons and I had Kirara run away with Rin to protect her. When Kirara came back, Rin was gone and Kirara doesn't seem to know. She couldn't have gone far. We have to search for her!"

"Lead me to where you were attacked." There was no breaching Sesshomaru at that moment, he was utterly determined to save Rin.

Sango did as requested as soon as she was asked, hopping back onto Kirara with Miroku settling himself behind her and Shippo perched on his shoulder. When Kirara took off, everyone followed on foot except Sesshomaru and Jaken, who was left riding Ah-Un because Sesshomaru was in no mood to have him hanging onto his fur.

The canine demons and half-demon set to sniffing out Rin upon landing. It perplexed them that there were no traces of it.

"I can't pick up a scent of her," Inuyasha said, stating the obvious aloud to confirm with the others.

"Neither can I," Sesshomaru said in a rare moment of agreement with his half-breed brother.

"There were certainly a lot of demons after you guys, Sango," Shippo commented while looking around at the slaughtered corpses.

The group wandered around the forest for another fifteen minutes until they spotted the cave.

"The cave where the Sacred Jewel was formed," Miroku said, recalling the familiar sight. "She may have gone in here to hide from the demons."

"And since it's Rin, she would not have any impure intentions for the Sacred Jewel like Myoga would," Kagome agreed. "She'd easily be able to pass the barrier. We should definitely check."

Months had passed since Inuyasha and his friends had entered the cave, yet all of them were able to pass through the barrier. The days of having such selfish desires for using the Sacred Jewel were past them, their goal now centered on taking down Naraku. As for Sesshomaru and his companions, the Jewel was a cheap way of achieving power and may as well have been any other crystal.

The same did not apply to the wolf demons. Upon approaching the entrance, Kouga, Ginta, and Hakkaku had trouble initially until Miroku kindly explained the situation to them and they were able to rid their minds of thoughts revolving around the Jewel.

Sesshomaru stepped further into the cave, his eye caught by the petrified corpse of the priestess captured in the beast's mouth. Kagome came up behind him and Inuyasha, seeing nothing had actually changed from their previous visit. She looked around the dim cave, alternating between floor and wall when she saw something red on the wall to the right. Her first thought was wondering what it could be, because it certainly was not the kind of red like blood. It was a strain, but with her sharp eyes required of any decent archer, Kagome could make out the faint outline of a person covered in a red…cocoon?

"AHHHHHHH!" Kagome screamed. "Who's that?!" she squealed while pointing at the trapped figure. All eyes instantly turned to see the source of her fright.

"I do not recall seeing that the last time we were here. Do you believe it could be a demon?" Sango asked cautiously, reaching for her Hiraikotsu.

Miroku approached the cocoon and closely inspected the being in the small light provided. "It's a woman," he concluded. "And even if she is a demon, she is truly beautiful."

"Enough, pervert monk!" _BONK!_

"She may be evil. I say we leave her dormant," Ginta suggested, inching away while shaking. Hakkaku mirrored his moves.

"I don't know about that," piped up Myoga. "Everything in this cave has to do with the Priestess Midoriko or the Sacred Jewel. The barrier would not allow a demon of ill-intent to enter here only to provide it shelter. Although she is certainly a mystery."

"Hold on," Inuyasha spoke slowly, the thoughts working through his head. "You said that everything in here has to do with Midoriko or the Jewel, so she might have some kind of relation as well, right? Then shouldn't we get her out of there and fight out anything we can from her?"

"Well, it's worth a try," Kouga said.

Inuyasha took the initiative by using his claws, but it had no effect. Seeing not even a scratch on the hard yet waxy substance, he decided to increase the power and use Iron Reaver Soul Stealer, slightly worried it would hurt the girl inside too, but that also had no effect.

"Thing's harder than hell!" he complained, put off by his failure.

"Let us try, Inuyasha," Miroku said. With his left hand held in front of his face in a sort of prayer and the other directed at the red cocoon, Miroku muttered a spell and the ringed staff struck the material to no avail. Even with the brute force of Sango's Hiraikotsu at full strength, it merely bounced back.

"It might be another type of barrier," said Kagome. "I'll try using one of my Sacred Arrows."

The time-traveler aimed at the only clearly visible body part, the head, and shot just to the right of it. Unfortunately, the exact opposite of what they had been hoping to accomplish happened. Rather than destroying the cocoon or even denting it, a light incandescent glow seemed to pull the spiritual powers from the metal tip into itself, forming several more red bands that overlapped the older ones. The girl's face was barely even visible afterward.

"Oh no!" Kagome cried, rushing forward to pull at the bands when suddenly, her powers felt like they were being channeled through her right arm and sucked out of her. The small vial holding the single Jewel shard in her pocket began to shake, clinking against the glass as it reacted to some unknown force.

"Get away, Kagome!" Myoga yelled. "It's apparently the spiritual powers or the someone or something that created this cocoon! You are only feeding it and further entrapping the person inside!"

"Then let me try Tessaiga," Inuyasha said, confident to not fail. If it was more reinforced, he was less concerned about injuring the girl they were trying to set free.

Sesshomaru watched the fiasco without much interest, ready to go back to properly looking for Rin, until Tenseiga pulsed. His muscles tensed as he felt the strong heartbeat of the sword, heightened instincts telling him that it was indeed calling out to the present obstacle.

_'You want me to cut the bonds?'_

"Step aside." His movements were fluid in drawing Tenseiga with his remaining right arm. With one stroke, the bonds fell apart in tatters before his blade.


End file.
